Natalie Clayton

BA (Hons) degree in Game Design and Production Management, 2017

How important was your Abertay degree in helping you pursue your career?

The networking opportunities that came at university were important, and the work I do now sort of fell together after the TEDx event.

I pitched in because, at the time, my confidence was shaky. I thought “hey – this’ll push me to do stuff!” and it very quickly snowballed into me doing speaking events in London.

That led to me finding a lot of the network that would eventually get me into jobs.

How did you end up in your current role?

I started getting to know people through various events and, at one point last year, I was tweeting and someone offered me a spot on their website to write about what I’d been talking about.

This then led me to what I do at the moment.

How does your degree influence your work as a games journalist?

I still make games in my spare time and that along with my time at university gives me a good idea about how things are made.

When I’m writing about games I can bring that knowledge into play.

What’s your lasting impression of Abertay and Dundee?

I really liked Dundee. It was small in the best possible way - everything was two minutes away and there was a real intimate sense of community around it.

What advice would you give to our students?

Get your stuff out into the wild as often and as frequently as possible. When you’re making projects and games you should put them online and share them so you can make a name for yourself.

A lot of the stuff I was making, especially during University, was very personal. For me, if I make something I’m interested in I want other people to be interested in it and that’s the motivating factor.

What are your future aspirations?

I’m going to keep doing this job for as long as it lasts – I want to see how far I can get. Then I want to move into something more office based and I’d be keen to work on more podcast content or video content.

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